The creative and therapeutic aspects of movement improvisation are of value in their own right. People come to this way of working from different backgrounds and for different reasons.
Tony Osborne integrates Al Wunder’s improvised Theatre of the Ordinary with somatic movement. Tonight I attended the first of his current six week workshop series in Sydney. My interest in coming is to re-visit the scores I learned from Al Wunder, which I am applying to my research journey. I keep saying I’m not a performer, and that I do this kind of work as inspiration for my art. But there is always more to it than that. It’s about finding your voice in life, too. Last night we did solo improvisations with our voices as well as movement. We did an exercise in asserting our voices, which I found very confronting. Improvisation is therapeutic, as well as creatively challenging. It takes us out of our comfort zones.
Why did I flinch when Tony said “Indulge yourself. That’s what artists do”?
The warm-up:
Very slowly we began. Laying on the floor, we were guided to visualise and actualise connections between our internal and external landscapes. We felt our internal bodies connecting with the outside world through breath, and skin. Our ‘outlines’ and ‘footprints’ were felt through our weight on the floor. From Stillness and Motion, and Isolating body parts in turn, we gradually achieved contiguous fluid motion. The final move from lying down to standing was approached very slowly. We visualised the process before enacting it. Once standing, we played around with the motion involved in keeping us still. It may sound contradictory, but myriad small body moves are involved in achieving stillness.
In rhythm with our breathing we moved isolated body parts. Sculpting the space around ourselves, we were at once the sculptor and the sculpted. Varying our breathing rhythms varied lengths of movement phrases. I enjoyed the stillness most – the weight of my body through the floor. I enjoyed the awareness of my still body shape in space. No line existed between me and the space I displaced.
In pairs we improvised to the following scores:
Both moving or both in stillness
One in motion, one in stillness
Initiating. responding and ignoring
Discussion between partners followed each score.
After a short break, we played Autobiographies:
Groups take turns to stand in a line before the rest of the class. Performers tell true stories from their own lives, maintaining eye contact with their audience. Performers interject each other, so the audience only hears snippets. This is all about butting in and asserting yourself.
After another short break, we each performed solo in turn, for 2 minutes. A stop watch was used, and the audience changed their point of view. One of our views, as audience, was lying on our backs.
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What I learned form tonight:
the importance of a thorough warm-up when entering a new space (such as Antarctica)
Ways to explore connectivity internaly (bodily) and externally (socially, environmentally)
Ways to break movement down to its first principles